The Ordinary Man Will Now Carry His Own Cross

Having lost faith in the current free spending Mahama government and an opposition that is scared of open demonstrations, the ordinary man has formed the Movement For The Ordinary Man (MFOM) to rescue the country from total disintegration.

MFOM is an offshoot of a continental movement that is determined to rid Africa of irresponsible and failed leadership. Their offices are located in the minds of the people and so therefore any attempts by the security agents to raid and ransack them, would be the biggest joke since independence.

Membership of the movement numbering millions would drastically annihilate any government machinery which goes after its leadership. The only weapons at their disposal are placards and bare hands. MFOM is poised to break the exclusive franchise of our leaders.

The anger of the ordinary man which he bottled up for almost six years has now reached a point of explosion. He is now ready to take matters into his own hands and no force could stand the devastation that would soon engulf our dear country and its people. In fact, the accompanying avalanche will choke the economic, political, religious and social leadership in our society. Comfort zones would be dismantled.

For those who falsely think and boast that control of authority and power are securely in their hands, let me remind them once again. It is only a matter of time.

Confronted headlong with arrogance, brutal lies, financial strangulation, massive corruption in all spheres of life, maladministration from the ruling class, favouritism, nepotism and tribalism, the ordinary man has made a final decisiondamn the consequences!!!! The contours of despair, desperation and hopelessness are evidenced on his face. The pain of seeing his children also going through these nauseating experiences has compelled him to throw out a divisive and vicious system.

It has dawned on him though too late, that he has no stake in the governance of a nation which purports to be democratic. He is now being told that the only period his services are needed is when he is called upon to queue under the hot sun to cast a vote. He is a Ghanaian when the state imposes myriad taxes on him. Thereafter, he is constantly bathed in the quagmire of belt-tightening while the affluent few laced their belts with elastic material and have the impudence to ask him to shut up.

The ordinary man is crushed on all fronts. He is fed up with the nation's constitution because the three arms of government make little or no sense to him. While the executive treats him with contempt, he has lost confidence in a legislature that assists the executive to pile debts upon debts. If the legislators are truly representing him, how come they fail to call the ordinary man to join in protests as the executive initiates laws that are not in his interest?

The judicial system has left him more confused than he was before the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections. The ordinary man believes that he is often denied justice but severely punished for petty offences while the privileged in society walk away after committing serious crimes against individuals and the state.

The least said about the media the better. The misconduct of some leading writers, journalists, publishers and owners of radio stations are a shocker to the ordinary man. Those who shouted on top of their voices in condemnatory tones during the Kufuor administration have now teamed up with the executive to plan and execute his decimation. They have accepted big bribes, positions and erected mansions. This category of unctuous professionals and business people would face the wrath of the ordinary man.

Unpatriotic civil and public servants who lubricate the wheels of bribery and corruption would not escape the ordinary man's clean-up.

The ordinary man has pieces to pick with sections of civil society which have woefully failed to increase the effectiveness of coalitions of individuals for innovative activities. Consequently, he is no longer prepared to allow the dialogue amongst the people for whom development is required, to be left to a weak government and non-governmental organizations.

What is preventing our representatives in parliament from teaming up with human rights lawyers to drag President Mahama and all Article 71 office holders to court for refusing to declare their assets. The obstinacy of such persons is eroding the very fabric of our constitution? Or is it the case that the under-emphasis given to electoral malpractices during the 2012 petition, has entrenched an authoritarian regime in Ghana? Did the framers of the constitution deliberately create loopholes to benefit the big people? Why must the executive take custody of constitutional review reports and pick and choose recommendations that suit it?

The ordinary man is not surprised because already significant erosion of our democracy is real due mostly to the lack of expertise in the National Democratic Congress government. This notoriously slow government prides itself in operating different stages of gears but unaware that the vehicle would be smashed beyond repairs.

Now, Ghana has lost an opportunity for a strong presidential leadership that can deliver clear cut economic policies. Rather what we have on our hands is a loquacious political leader who sends negative and ambiguous signals about the so-called high priority he attaches to maintenance of democracy and human rights. Obviously, his inflammatory leadership accompanied by harshness, separatism and depreciating tendencies has infected those around him. This has undoubtedly resulted in deteriorating legitimacy of his regime and given birth to sustained decadence, corruption, repression and ineptitude.

The ordinary man is also uncomfortable with the docility of opposition parties who spend precious time in the war of words. It seems to the ordinary man that the opposition does not appreciate the fact, that an equitable and peaceful development requires not only greater understanding but also respect for differences within and across national boundaries. The cries of the ordinary citizen can be seen to engage their attention if the opposition parties put the government of the day on its toes. It also involves mass protests as is happening in other parts of the world.

Interestingly, the ordinary man would follow a leader who does not unnecessarily negotiate with a rotten administration. He will in fact sacrifice for an opposition that makes reformation of the country's obsolete laws its priority. He will patronize a media that promotes fairness, balance, objectivity and truth.

Under the present circumstances where there is a dearth of quality leadership across board, an era in which the government will and cannot learn to accommodate others respectfully, the ordinary man who has come to terms with his irrelevance could easily act with a pique. He will carry his own cross.